Representative Bachmann – Always Rising, Never Compromising

ST. PAUL  (AP) — How did Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a possible 2012 presidential contender, get her introduction to politics?

It was a failed school board bid in 1999. She took on state education standards she saw as a threat to traditional academics.

That loss merely set the stage for a successful campaign for the state Senate, and once there, she helped scuttle the standards altogether.

It was an early indicator of a theme for the third-term congresswoman: Bachmann often wins by losing.

Bachmann plans to decide by June whether to make a run for the White House.

She's become a tea party hero in part by fighting losing battles with the GOP establishment. But she'd start the 2012 race needing to make up ground on other Republicans.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.